Jobs/Appointments
PenCom to Register 21,000 Retirees on Online Enrollment Portal
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that 21,000 prospective retirees would be registered soon on its newly developed online enrollment portal across the nation.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner, Technical, PenCom, Mr Anyim Nyerere, at a workshop organised by the commission for Pension Desk Officers (PDO’s) on Enrollment Application on Wednesday in Lagos.
Mr Nyerere said that 11,000 prospective retirees were due for the annual pre-retirement enrollment exercise in 2019/2020 while 10,000 prospective retirees were expected for the 2020/2021 fiscal year.
He explained that the 2019/2020 retirees-to-be were pending due to the inability of PenCom to conduct the physical annual pre-retirement enrolment exercise due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that following the development, the agency had developed an online enrolment application with the capabilities to register, verify and enrol prospective retirees.
Mr Nyerere said that the application would provide the guidance note accordingly which would help to compute the retirees’ benefits.
“This nouveau application, which will be hosted on the commission’s website, will enable prospective retirees to log on to register with their details on the Retiree Registration Module (RRM).
“It is an established norm within PenCom to conduct physical annual retirement verification and enrolment exercise on the Federal Government of Nigeria employees of the Treasury Funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) scheduled for retirement within the next fiscal year.
“This exercise is aimed at validating and determining the retirees’ accrued pension liabilities for budgetary allocation by the federal government.
“PenCom regrets the inability to conduct this physical annual pre-retirement enrolment exercise due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Therefore, the need to observe the necessary safety measures as directed by the government thus becomes inevitable.
“The PDOs and the public within the pension industry will appreciate the challenges in not conducting the physical pre-retirement enrolment exercise,” he said.
According to him, the desire of the commission is to ensure that the exercise is done so as not to affect the validation and determination of the accrued pension liabilities of the prospective retirees for government budgetary purposes.
Mr Nyerere noted that the MDAs would be required to upload the list of potential retirees who had not been enrolled before, including their full name and signature specimen of its authorised signatories, among others.
The commissioner stated that the workshop was to expose the PDOs to the online enrolment application procedures for the verification of the prospective retirees.
He said, “the PDOs will guide prospective retirees on how to complete the information on the application.
“The PDOs will equally ensure that the retirees’ information submitted by the MDAs are accurately completed in line with the online enrolment guidance notes.
“This workshop will help equip the PDOs with the requisite knowledge on how the retiree registration module operates for the smooth implementation of the online enrolment application.
“Necessary safeguards and modalities have equally been put in place for the exercise.
“We hope the PDOs will strictly comply with the provisions of the guidance notes on the enrolment for the conduct of the upcoming nationwide pre-retirement verification and enrolments exercise.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has been appointed as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Mr Gbajabiamila won his re-election into the lower chamber of the National Assembly on February 25, 2023, but with this appointment, he will have to lose his seat in the parliament to coordinate the activities of his new boss.
Also, Mr Tinubu has picked the former Governor of Benue State, Mr George Akume, as the new Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF).
He is take over from the former occupier of the position, Mr Boss Mustapha, who served under the administration of the immediate past President, Mr Muhammadu Buhari.
Similarly, the former Deputy Governor of Jigawa State, Mr Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, has been chosen by Mr Tinubu as his Deputy Chief of Staff.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Mr Roshan Dharia has been appointed as the interim chief executive of Paxful, a leading global peer-to-peer Bitcoin platform.
In a statement issued by the company’s press team, it was disclosed that the appointment of Mr Dharia became effective on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
Recall that Paxful returned to business some weeks ago after it shut down its operations due to internal issues.
Mr Dharia would be expected to reposition the firm “with the objectives of strengthening operations and exploring strategic alternatives.”
He was most recently a senior executive at TrustToken (now known as Archblock) where he led the DeFi institutional lending business, successfully deploying over $1.5 billion in stablecoin loans to crypto-native companies.
Prior to TrustToken, Roshan founded and built the investment platform PTHL Affiliates, which specialized in the acquisition and turnaround of distressed private companies across multiple industries.
As a seasoned executive, he has held various positions as an investor and investment banker with transactional experience totalling over $30 billion across mergers and acquisitions, financial restructurings, and financings.
The interim CEO, who is highly adept in navigating special situations with complex risk profiles and significant intrinsic value, said he was greatly honoured “to become CEO of Paxful.”
“Over the last eight years, Paxful has been a pioneer in establishing the real use cases of Bitcoin and helping millions of people in the process.
“I look forward to hitting the ground running and building on the innovative technology developed by the Paxful team,” he added.
The Custodian of Paxful, Srinivas Raju, while commenting on the appointment, said, “I’m delighted that Roshan has joined Paxful and will take over day-to-day management of the company. I’m confident under his leadership; the business will keep building a financial system that truly serves the 100 per cent.”
Since its inception in 2015, Paxful has grown to a community of over 12 million users around the world, with billions of dollars traded on the platform over the last eight years.
By Dipo Olowookere
An Executive Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mrs Abidemi Ademola, has resigned from the board of the conglomerate.
In a notice to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, it was disclosed that she would officially exit the board of the organisation on May 31, 2023.
In the statement signed by the Senior Legal Counsel and Company Secretary of Unilever Nigeria, Mrs Afolasade Olowe, the board thanked Mrs Ademola for her service to the firm, wishing her well in her future endeavours.
“This is to notify Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public that the Board of Directors of Unilever Nigeria Plc has considered and approved the resignation of Mrs Abidemi Ademola as an Executive Director with effect from May 31, 2023.
The Board of Directors wishes Mrs Ademola all the very best in her future career and would like to express their sincere gratitude to her for the many valuable contributions and legal expertise she brought to the company over a distinguished 27-year career at Unilever.
“Mrs Ademola’s replacement on the Board of Directors of Unilever Nigeria will be announced in due course,” the disclosure said.
